FRACKVILLE — After months of negotiations, the Frackville Area Municipal Authority and the state Department of Corrections have agreed to a new 10-year sewage service contract to begin later this month.
The FAMA board approved in a 4-0 vote at Friday’s special meeting to the contract to provide the service to the State Correctional Institution/Frackville that goes into effect Nov. 27 when the current 20-year contract expires.
The current contract was put in place in 1996. Located in Ryan Township, SCI/Frackville was officially dedicated on April 16, 1987.
FAMA solicitor Paul G. Domalakes was involved with the negotiations since both sides began discussing the contract renewal and updating the new document. He explained to the board at the Friday meeting some of the changes, including a much more simplified billing procedure.
“The old agreement was also very unwieldy and very complicated and involved that included ‘reconciliations’ and ‘after the fact,’ ” Domalakes said. “There was dispute about how much their flow was and what percentage it was (of the system operation). We got rid of all that and streamlined it. I think this is a very workable agreement. It’s going to be ‘Here’s the flow,’ multiplied by the $6 (per thousand gallons) and send them their bill. We don’t have to give them estimated bills or reconcile at the end of the year.”
Domalakes added, “The formula here, I think, is simple, straightforward, fair and verifiable.”
Entech Engineering Inc. senior project manager Donald Cuff, who provided the technical input in the negotiating process, agreed with Domalakes’ assessment.
“There is really only one variable in that agreement, and it’s their flow, and that’s a verified number,” Cuff said. “Today, they are recording that information electronically, and per that agreement they must do that electronically. It’s no longer handwritten. It’s what the computer uploads on a daily basis, which they in turn send to you (FAMA) in an email. Even though still the old meter, it is equipped with a new recorder. It is no longer open to interpretation. It’s verifiable.”
Domalakes gave credit to Frackville Superintendent Brenda Tritt for assisting in the agreement.
“The superintendent was instrumental in breaking a logjam in the negotiations,” Domalakes said. “She could see how complicated the other agreement was getting as time went on.”
Since accounting for the sewage flow into the FAMA system is important for fair billing, a new electronic meter will be installed at the prison by DOC for the monitoring.
“The new electronic meter will be measuring their flow,” Domalakes said. “It’s not in place yet and they have to test it to make sure it works. We were telling them that they were exceeding their 200,000 gallons per day and do they want more. They said no. We said that if the flow exceeds 200,000, they were going to be surcharged.”
Domalakes said the authority, as part of the contract, gives the prison a six-month grace period so the new meter can be installed to make sure it is working and gauging the amount of sewage entering the sewage system.
“We’ll just charge $6 per thousand gallons for whatever it is you send us, but at the end of the six months, if you’re sending us 220,000 gallons, you’re going to get a surcharge for the extra 20,000, which is $7.20 per thousand gallons.”
Domalakes said FAMA offered to have the prison purchase additional capacity above 200,000 gallons, noting that there were indications that 220,000 or 240,000 gallons were closer amounts. The DOC said that the problem was an inaccurate flow measured by the current meter, which prompted its replacement with a modern electronic version.
“So we give them six months or when the meter is put in, whatever comes first,” Domalakes said. “Whatever the meter shows, that’s what we will bill them, but if shows they’re using excess capacity, they get surcharged. And we can make them buy additional capacity.”
At the end of 10 years, the contract will automatically renew in one-year intervals unless a side gives a year notice that a new agreement is desired.
“But we only have to give 90 days notice that we’re going to adjust the rate,” Domalakes said. “The rate ($6 per thousand gallons) that the prison will not be paying is much more in line of what residents now pay.”
Domalakes noted that the new rate will be about twice as much as with the old contract.
“There was an agreement since 1996 that the prison would pay a part of our expenditures based on a percentage of their flow versus our total flow,” Domalakes said. “That was kind of screwy in the beginning, but we knew how to work it, but as time went on it got worse and worse. It ended up that the prison was paying half of what other residents (customers) were paying, which was simply not fair or just.”
Cuff said the prison will contact FAMA when the new meter will be installed so authority personnel can be present for the installation and calibration.
Domalakes said the agreement signed by FAMA officers will be sent to the DOC attorney to have its officials to sign off on it.
The motion to accept the contract was made by Harrison Harper, seconded by David Gera and approved by Harper, Gera, Chairman William Rhoades and Paul Klevis.
In other business, the board approved the purchase of two sludge containers from Barakat Associates LTD, Gilberton, at a total cost of $11,374. The authority changed to Barakat in October to provide for the removal of biosolids and grit and returned the containers it was using to the former service provider, County Waste.